When Complacency goes Up, Up, and Away.

Posted in In the News | 13 comments

The last week has been anything but quiet in the airline industry. On December 25, 2009 Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, otherwise known as the Underwear Bomber tried to take down Northwest Airlines flight 253. Thankfully, the passengers and crew were able to apprehend the terrorist when his explosives failed to ignite. Following this event, the Transportation Security Administration put a series of new regulations into place which made no sense what-so-ever. Passengers on flights arriving into the United States from international departure cities weren’t allowed to be out of their seats for the last hour of flight and further weren’t allowed access to any of their personal items and/or have anything on their laps or in their hands, crews weren’t allowed to report the location of the aircraft to their passengers and passengers could be and were frisked and patted down prior to boarding (in addition to the security check point).

Delta Airlines flight 2377 from West Palm Beach to New York’s LaGuardia took a two hour delay on December 26, 2009 when socialite Ivana Trump became belligerent when crew members asked her to stop screaming profanities at children running up and down the aisles. Trump was removed from the aircraft, and the FBI was contacted but didn’t pursue the matter.

On December 27, 2009, the same day Umar Abdulmutallab was to appear in Court, Northwest Airlines flight 253, again, from Amsterdam to Detroit made an emergency landing due to an unruly passenger who spent an “abnormal” (what exactly is “abnormal?”) amount of time in an aircraft lavatory. The flight was parked at a hardstand while all passenger carry on items were checked by bomb sniffing dogs and the passengers and crew were bussed to a secure location to be interviewed by the FBI and TSA. Later, all passengers, including the man who was “unruly” were let go, when Officials determined that the man, was in fact, sick and became unruly when passengers and crewmembers opened the lavatory door and dragged him out of the restroom.

Later that day, the 27th, two passengers were removed from US Airways flight 192 in Phoenix, AZ after the flight made an emergency landing inbound from Orlando. Passengers alerted the crew of two Middle Eastern men “speaking loudly in a foreign language” and whom were watching the terrorism thwarting movie “The Kingdom.”

What are we thinking? Are you following the ridiculousness?

The number one thing that should have come of the Underwear Bomber is a jolt out of complacence that America is safe. We must remember the events of September 11, 2001 and remember that we are currently a country at war. There are many organizations and groups out there that time after time make threats against us as a nation, and sometimes, it seems, they might actually try to carry them out. We must not allow them to do so.

Frayed underwear from 'The Underwear Bomber' via ABCNews

However, how far is too far? Did we really need to call the FBI in Palm Beach when Ivana Trump thew a temper tantrum? No. Come on now, they have bigger underwear to fry at the moment. And, did those “unruly” passengers plucked from airplanes in the days following Christmas need to be removed, probably not. Had the events on Christmas NOT taken place, would they have been removed? Would the FBI be called in on Ivana Trump? No.

We overreacted. And, that’s okay. The TSA learned from their mistake in the days following and retracted many of their original directives, President Obama called for a study of our current homeland security policies and procedures and individual airlines now have policies in place to better handle a situations like this.

In the last few days there’s been a major call-to-action to beef up airport security and to ensure men like Umar Abdulmutallab never get into the United States or onboard on of our airplanes. But what strikes me as funny, is the civil war going on trying to decide how exactly to keep our airports safe.

Some airports have a body scan machine which allows the TSA agents to get a “naked” view of your body to pinpoint any concealed weapons and contraband that might be on your person. Some people view this machine as an invasion of privacy, so for the time being while its an optional screening level, they bypass it and opt for a more through check using the regular metal detector and a physical patdown.

@ediableguys: I don’t want no dog sniffing at me. Can you imagine being sniffed every time you have to travel? Bring on the scanners I say

In addition to this machine the TSA is also using bomb sniffing dogs at airports to detect any explosives in checked bags, cargo and carry on items. It has been mentioned that these dogs could also be used to detect explosives on your person, but again, some people view this as an invasion of privacy and don’t want a dog sniffing them every time they travel.

@MsWendy23: Hell yes they [bomb sniffing dogs] should be allowed! Why wouldn’t they ?!?!

America doesn’t know what we want. What we do know is, we want to be safe when we travel, but we don’t want to give up our privacy to do so. And, in my opinion, you can’t have it both ways.

When you’re traveling you should no longer have [your] privacy for the time it takes you to proceed through the checkpoint. The TSA and Department of Homeland Security are not just checking your body and your belongings to keep you safe, but also checking them to keep the other 150+ people on your aircraft safe. At that point, it’s no longer about you, but about everyone else, including you, that you’ll encounter on the other side of the checkpoint.

It’s time to wake up America. We all agree that we need to remain safe and secure, so we should be doing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING possible within our power to do so.

[Note: The above post is my opinion and my opinion only. It doesn't reflect the opinion of my employer or co-workers.]